Call it what it is -- a coup

August 16, 2013

Last month, Egypt's military forcibly removed the duly elected president Mohamed Morsi from office in a coup. The reasons boiled down to assertions that Morsi was being undemocratic in his policies. Had anyone been thrown in jail without charges? Had Morsi done anything other than politicians worldwide attempt while in office; namely, attempting to undo 30 years of corruption?

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stacked the courts, imprisoned dissidents and otherwise did little to improve Egypt's economy. Morsi wanted to change the makeup of the courts. And by the way, Morsi was in office only a year, hardly enough time to change Egypt significantly. If Morsi was acting unconstitutionally, then the parliament should have acted, not the military.

Predictably, our leaders were mealy mouthed about the whole thing. Mainly, our politicians were most concerned with Egypt's treaty with Israel. There was no commentary on how this instability could affect the Suez Canal, which is paramount to shipping in the near and far East. They haven't been concerned that Egypt's infant democracy was being destroyed before it could gain a foothold or that in a democracy the results of elections don't always please those who want to proclaim the Arab Spring as an awakening and transition to democracies.

So now, Egypt has traded a fledgling democracy for so-called stability. But our indifference to this coup (by refusing to call it one) will hurt the United States further, perhaps to the point that Egypt may turn to China or their long time ally, Russia, for closer ties.

Meanwhile, in Syria, we are on the side of the rebels, who do not show any love of democracy. Assad, who has been enduring a two-year long civil war, is gaining ground against the rebels. We have called his actions illegal and undemocratic.